"Our aircraft was never in Iranian airspace. It was always flying in international air space. The recognized limit is 12 nautical miles off the coast and we never entered the 12 nautical mile limit," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in responding to questions from reporters after CNN reported the incident.

Little said the United States believed this was the first time an unmanned aircraft was shot at by the Iranians in international waters over the Gulf. In December of 2011, a U.S. surveillance drone crashed in eastern Iran. Iranians claimed to have shot it down, and created a toy model of the drone to celebrate its capture.

Little stopped short of calling the incident an act of war although the Pentagon was concerned.

Two U.S. officials explained the jets were part of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps force, which has been more confrontational than regular Iranian military forces.

At least two bursts of gunfire came from the Su-25s' cannons. The drone started to move away but the Iranian aircraft chased it, doing aerial loops around it before breaking away and returning to Iran.

The Obama administration did not disclose the incident before the presidential election, but three senior officials confirmed the details to CNN on Thursday. They declined to be identified because of sensitive intelligence matters surrounding the matter.

The drone's still and video cameras captured the incident showing two Su-25s approaching the Predator and firing onboard guns.

The Iranian pilots continued to fire shots that went beneath the Predator but were never successful in hitting it, according to the officials.

U.S. military intelligence analysts are still not sure if the Iranian pilots simply were unable to hit the drone due to lack of combat skill, or whether they deliberately were missing and had no intention of bringing it down.

But as one of the officials said, "it doesn't matter, they fired on us."

Little said the United States has to assume Iran was trying to bring down the Predator.

The United States protested the incident but had not heard back from Iran.

The "New generation" sounds like the movies about the sixties when they all sat around the camp fire singing kumbaya and smoking hash, see they have done it already, it didn't work back then and it certainly won't work now. This is a new world we live in, THERE are other counties and crazies right here that DON'T like us and WILL kill us. We need to defend ourselves (not cut the military) when it happens again and not apologize. We needed a leader, not a comedian.
It would be funny if you were not destroying our country.

Do any of the neocon idiots on this board know why Iran is our "enemy?" Anyone? First one gets a gold star. A quick google search into the history of American-Iranian relations should suffice. Or you can continue to watch Fox News.

Well, they aren't officially our enemy. But it's not much of a secret that Iran has been supplying IED materials to those who use them to blow up our guys. It's good to know that willfully participating in the murder of U.S. troops doesn't make you an enemy though, as long as we have that cleared up.

November 8, 2012 at 10:53 pm |

Dan

We can do whatever we want. Screw the rest of the world. You are a bunch of towel head losers.

sorry about my spelling.. English is not my first language.. Its not that Iran will attack the us but the terror organastions will.... If you allow them to get the weapon they will refine it to the point of useing it in the usa..

We were within 16 miles of their coast. You can't be that close to the US Coasts and not be fired on. There is no question we must watch Iran very close, and no they are not to be trusted but less than 20 miles from their shores? I think we are just lookig for a reason to go to war. If that is the case then Congress needs to Tax every citizen to pay for a 3rd war.

Good grief, the level of ignorance here is astonishing. First, Iran with nucs is a terrible thing – allowing an outlaw regime and the #1 sponsor of Islamic terrorism to blackmail their neighbors with the threat of nuclear retaliation should they be attacked. That is why they must be stopped now. We need to be unequivocable and lead...something Obama just can't do. Russia, Iran, North Korea, Al Qaeda, Venezuela, Cuba – they are all ecstatic Obama won another 4 years. China was overjoyed – their stock market zoomed while ours plummeted. Our allies, not so happy.

12 miles is the international territorial limit and no, we would not fire on an aircraft that maintained a distance outside 12 miles – used to happen all the time. But we would vaporize it if the aircraft track presented a threat and it was ID'ed as a threat aircraft. Lost civilian aircraft are intercepted going where they should not go all the time, but we don't shoot them down. The Iranian Air Force is not the world's best and with a top speed of about 130 kts, the smallish Predator actually presents a difficult solution for a poor pilot in a jet aircraft if the drone is circling. In this case it sounds like the pilot was just trying to make a statement (for their own internal consumption), or he really missed. Our UAV's powerful cameras (and elint gear) can look into their airspace at an angle, conveniently outside the territorial limit. They know we are there, and it drives them crazy. They know the sattellites are their too, but can't do anything about those.

As for Opsec, the Iranians know they are there, the whole world knows they are there and if in international airspace, we get a little mileage out of poking the bad guys in public for shooting at one. Of course, the administration probably leaked it because it shows we are "doing something" about the Iranian nuc thing...as if this administration had a clue.

Panetta is about to be canned by Obama for stating the obvious – that the defense cuts in the sequestration law signed by Obama will destroy our military. Obama needs to get someone else in there that will make the task of retreating from world leadership easier for him to complete. Panetta also knows Obama lied about Benghazi, and that makes him expendable as well.

"Iran has, at other times, been confrontational in the region." HAHAHAHAHAHA. I guess starting wars with two bordering countries, staging coups of their democratically elected dictators, imposing dictators for oil, flying drones 12 miles from their shores, and keeping an entire carrier fleet within easy distance of destroying their country isn't "confrontational." Get a grip.

I'm not sure the dictators were democratically elected but it's pretty hypocritical supporting friendly dictators and overthrowing unfriendly ones while we claim we support democracy. And, we have overthrown democratically elected leaders who weren't dictators–Mossadegh in Iran, Arbenz-Guzman in Guatemala and Allende in Chile. Basically, you get it right.

Yes, it is interesting to note that a drone being fired upon by Iran is an act of war, but the USS Liberty being intentionally sunk by Israeli aircraft and submarines was not. If you don't know what I am talking about, look up the USS Liberty.

So just for the sake of a story, you are willing to compromise national security and talk to "senior officials" who are not "authorized to speak on the matter because of the sensitivity of the issue". There is a thing in the DoD that we call OPSEC, and its a damn shame that these "senior official sources" that you get your information from puts men and women at risk because they failed to keep their mouths shut and forgets about the NDAs they signed. I hope they get busted, court martialed and thrown in jail. This is not about freedom of press or speech, this is about national security and the men and women you reporters willinging put in harms way just to get the scoop.

Yes you're right, it is about a drone in this report but more importantly it is about the failure to maintain Operational Security (OPSEC) by these senior ranking officials who open their mouths for whatever reason. If you don't understand OPSEC, then you will not understand where I'm coming from.

November 8, 2012 at 9:48 pm |

Tipton

SSG, I'm beginning to think these reporters are starting to make up these "senior officials" in hopes of making the actual higher ups voice an actual story.
If this is an actual higher official spreading our intel, I hope we find him and try said official for treason.
v/r
Tipton

Wow...another brainiac, although it's doubtful you have a clue of what's going on in middle east. Guys from my platoon died in both Afghanistan and Iraq from weapons supplied to enemy by Iran. We need to be making the place a parking lot not flying drones

Yes we have all heard about the 47% hate club. 47% are all lazy and do no work, yet the unemployment rate is not 47%. Learn math and fill your brain with something other than hate for half of the country.

November 8, 2012 at 9:37 pm |

Karyn

Evidence, please, of this voter fraud you allege?

November 8, 2012 at 9:37 pm |

efu

haha we cheated okay really .....

November 8, 2012 at 9:37 pm |

Matt

Lol cheated the election with double votes, wth brand of right wing crack are you smoking homes? Jeb Bush is the real pro election fixer; he's probably still trying to win Florida for Rmoney.

November 8, 2012 at 9:42 pm |

fandancy

haha

Paranoia at it's best.

November 8, 2012 at 10:38 pm |

Maverick

So four years from now, how would you like your crow prepared? Let me know how much better off we ALL are in 2016.

The Iranians figure that O-Bozo is too much of a weakling coward to do anything about this incident and I'll bet that they are right. O-Bozo is just too busy right now trying to get Mayor Bloomberg's lips unclasped from his scrotum. There was really no earthquake in New Jersey, it was just the force of Bloomies lips clamping around O-Bozo in New York. As soon as he does shake off Bloomberg, he will issue an apology to the Iranian leaders for his countries transgressions against Islam.

Imagine that....A country that is actually being responsible and protecting it's border! What would we do if there were drones flying all around the U.S.? Maybe we the people should open our eyes a little more and see that we have an out of control military that is acting more like a bully than anything else! Maybe our other drone wouldn't have ended up in the hands of the Iranians if we had been respecting their sovereignty? Do you think that wat we read about is all that we are doing? Do yathink that these countries hate us because we are pushing them to far...like a bully would do a little scrawny kid!

I would love to see the Hormuz straight shut down, America needs a can of wake up! Go Iran and America get your bicycles out. America wlll be wishing that president was still in office what was is name George???? George ??? George Washighton ? thats right LOL My own countrymen are bunch of appeasing wimps thats saying it nice

And now that the puppet election is over and half the country is happy, we can continue on with our divine plan of policing the rest of the world. Why stop when you tell millions of people here how they would be better off? We need to tell everyone who doesnt think the way we do that they are wrong and make them think our way. WE ARE NUMBER 1!!!! GO AMERICA!!!! KILL FOREIGNERS!!!!! BRING IN MORE DRUGS FOR THE KIDS!!!!!!!! DOWN WITH ARABS!!!!!!!!!! UP WITH THE NEW ROMAN EMPIRE!!!!! WE WILL NEVER COLLAPSE!!!!!!!

What is the point of your question? The drone was in international airspace. We have been monitoring shipping in this area for years. The question that should be asked is, why wasn't this reported when it became known? There are a lot of stories being released this week that have evidence of being known by the administration prior to the election – but held until after the election. The Boeing layoffs are another example. This act of war is an example. Highly irregular employment numbers that upon deeper inspection appear to be questionable – but the guess is that the corrections will be mixed in over months vs. at one time (the US public is not smart enough to figure it out).

This story contains serious inaccuracies. The first drone shot downin Iran was over five years ago. It was over Iranian land and was captured somewhat intact. For years, it had been widely known that the telemetry had been hacked and the drones were known to be transmitting data that our enemies were capturing. Iran reversed engineered our drone with China's help, at least as was reported years aago.

We are spying on Iran and one of our spycraft was shot down. Should we stop using drones to invade Iranian airspace or should we collect the data we can while poking them in the eye about it? Don't be a Romney. Just say what we should do.

Wouldn't the US killing 290 civilians actually create such hatred that would produce more Terrorists reactionaries as a result. You gotta think that such an action in Iran would be considered terrorism in itself no?

November 1? Why didn't we hear about it until November 8. I suspect for the same reason we didn't hear about Barry's interview saying nothing about a terrorist attack on 60 minutes until a day before the election. Oh well, we're all use to it. No big deal. After a while no one will even report on the buffoon in charge.

I think any sensible person would understand that these drones are easily knocked out by a piloted fighter aircraft. They aren’t built for evade nor dogfights, they are built for reconnaissance. They’re not fast nor very maneuverable.

It's just political postureing, that's all.What was its mission? They maybe with tha tinformation we can actually understand this situation.

Drum beating is all it is, maybe a little from both sides. Wahtis its mission was to disrupt Iranian airspace communications, or some other facet that would make Iran send a message to the US to back off

Tell us what it was doing so we can make an infomred decision about his.
.

On the contrary, unmanned drones are far more manuverable than any piloted jet aircraft. Slower, perhaps, but not more manuverable. Manned jet factors have one major flaw- they are limited by g-forces subjected to their human pilots. Drones, on the other hand, are not.

I think you are assuming the Iranian pilots actually tried to shoot down the drone. Let's be honest if they wanted to shoot the drone down they would have.
They most likely saw the drone approaching Iranian Airspace and therefore sent fighters to intercept( what country wouldn't react this way if they have the assets available). Fire a few warning shots, and waiting for a response as the drone clearly didn't try and engage or continued away from Iranian airspace. They may have been aggressive but i wouldn't call it uncalled for.
If you were smart why would you send your drone so close Iranian airspace and not expect some sort of reaction 4 miles is not very far for an aircraft to travel, a dozen seconds ? Leads to agree that we are simply testing their reaction and radar capabilities. If they shoot down a drone a few miles in "International Airspace" gives us all the reason to as "Americans" to do something. Its crap if you ask me and sad that the news/Pentagon reports portrays this as Iran being the bad guy. I'm not defending Iran but like I said if they wanted to shoot it down they would have.

OK, I am not an Iranian apologist by any means. But imagine if an Iranian drone was 12 miles off the coast of NYC, do you think we would shoot that drone down and call ourselves 100% justified? You bet we would, so what's the difference here?

The point is not Iran or US. The point is that is the expected military response. Because the world knows about Pearl Harbor, nobody is going relive that moment caught with pants down. So when you seen an unknown drone around even in international airspace but too close for comfort, you respond militarily. Safety is priority. You always assume the worse case.

We do not want to mess with Iran -not right now. POOTUS cant handle the heat until he finishes other things like send FEMA to New York and oversea the rebuilding. New Yorkers crying -POOTUS cant get his butt kicked later

Amazing how this "breaking news" comes out – 5 (FIVE) days after it happens.... AFTER obama steals the office for a second term with the help of the media... It will be fun watching the liberal news now have to start actually reporting all this news they have been holding back from the sheeple.

Iran was not trying to shoot it down fool - just send a warning that Iran sees us -Iran is not Iraq - Poo Poo better not start some mess his tiny self cant finish right now –he needs to build New York back up like he promised –he exploited votes by making lame promises in front of camera –his butt better get busy helping out sandy people –the fool

Got to love how people treat others like a different race or species because of the party they support. I dont know if I have ever encountered such insulting comments towards otheres because they disagree with their opinion. Also, it scares me that the level of uneducated writing on here. Grammar, spelling mistakes and flat out illogical and offensive writing. Where did some of you go to school or college(if you went to college..). It is simple basic English grammar and writing. Wow....

Im not a nerd im just educated. Yes, both parties are corrupt and i would like to see them fall and a third party take over. but my point war more of the way we speak to each other. it's sad. were all americans and we will get nowhere very quickly by going back and forth insulting one another. people need to stand up for what they believe rather than joining a "bandwagon".

November 8, 2012 at 9:20 pm |

Matt

point was*

November 8, 2012 at 9:21 pm |

Kimberly Charron

You can thank all the Liberal Professors and Unionized teachers for the "dumbing down" of America. They don't teach our children "how to think" anymore, they tell them "what to think". Welcome to Obama's Socialist State and Congress is complicit with this fraud.

Socialism is an economic system not a political system but you know what that's fine. By the way would you consider a government that props up hundreds of businesses with federal funds and supplies the funds for farmers a socialist country, just a question. And no that did not start with Obama.

November 8, 2012 at 11:17 pm |

Said No to Barry

I suspect Iran actually shot the drone down which is why they kept it a secret.....

Who here posting s really ready to send US men and women back into a war zone? I for one am not.. It was a drone...A model aircraft with high tech toys attached. Are you ready to kill and be killed over this thing?

Why didn't we know this before the election? Oh I forgot the press was too busy carrying Mr. Obama to actually do its job! What do we think Iran will do when they get the bomb? Do we still think they will stop trying to get a bomb? This election has made the world a more dangerous place! The world knows Mr. Obama has no taste for confrontation! If pushed, this president will appease!

I didn't vote for Obama simply because I believe he has down a poor job with the economy. I do believe, however, he has done well with the fight on terror. He is facing one may well be a lose lose choice concerning Iran. If he sides with Israel and hits Iran he triggers what will most likely be WWIII. Russia will without a doubt send its military to the aid of an ally. If he turns a blind eye to Iran's nukes Israel will go it alone and will most likely have to defend herself with nukes against Iranian facilities. I for one am going to pray long and hard for the President.

I would fear a Republican administration would over react to this situation, start a war, then look for a reason to start another war from a previous plan involving oil resources. Not saying we should never go to war, if plane was manned and had been hit, a new level of discussion would need to be involved with alot of thought of future consequences. If a smaller dog wants to fight a big dog he will bite, not just bark in his direction.

After the election GO FIGURE.. just so happens everything is held until after the election. Benghazi hearing, the man going to prison over the muslin youtube film, all the boeing layoffs, sequester layoffs. UN Arm treaty, now this! Just imagine if the MSM actually did their job for the American people!

Remember the MSM doesn't work for the people. They work to generate revenue for themselves. Obama and less government censorship is good and profitable for them. Being allowed to push social tenets to generate ratings is good for them. They didn't report it because they were doing a bad job for you. They didn't report it because they were doing a good job for themselves.

Relax everyone. It won't be long before the 89 1/2% enricment is complete. Then it will hit 90% and then we and the Israelies will wipe them off the map. It is too bad, and very sad for all 3 of our countries. War is not a game and its NOT fun. Only the citizens get hurt, because the government and mitilary in their country don't give 2 shi*ts about their people. How can a human being kill another?? All in the name of religion? How sad it has all come to this. Maybe the Myans calendar will be right and it will be the end, and then the dawn of the new beginning. Could we then have the true peace we are looking for? I wish I had some of the answers.

First of all you republican asshat,,, there was no apology,,, there was no bowing, and there was no ass kissing, try listening to what he said (the entire speech) not clips put together by Rove the asshat. Just remember, it was the Obama administration that got Osama,, not Bush, not clinton, not Regan....

Obama wnt do anything about it cuz he has no guts..they could fire on an aircraft carrier and kills our troops and he would issue a protest an that's it..he is the worst and weakest President we have ev er had...

Smart Up MR. DJ
Iran Air Flight 655 was a civilian jet airliner shot down by U.S. missiles. All 290 on board including 66 children and 16 crew. Here we are bitiching about a stupid drone getting shot at over Iranina air SPACE we need to stay the hell out of Irans air space,,,,, Have we not learned anything from our past.

You need to learn how to read. You seem to be the one with the problem. Try reading the article again for the correct facts included in the article. Your comment makes you sound like a total moron. You might only be half way there.

November 8, 2012 at 9:04 pm |

adam4x4

Do you mean like what happened when Israeli forces attacked the USS Liberty and to this day not one national level politician has dared to call them on it? Our pol's tell us that the Israelis are our friends, best ally, etc... BS! They know how to play our politiciians,put money in their pockets, and they throw the rest of us under the bus. If anyone shoots at us we should destroy them, Israeli, Iranian, or anyone else.

True it is international air space. Also each aircraft flying need to report a flight plan and a lots of paperwork. Of course the drone doesn't have a flight plan. And it must be military origin. Plus the drone is 16 miles away and can go up to 135 mph. Suddenly, the drone turns and makes a beeline for the Iranian coast. As an air force commander seeing it on your radar, what will be your first reaction? You don't know its intent. What do you do?

November 8, 2012 at 9:07 pm |

TrblMaker

Those Iranian jets were lucky...next time the U.S. drone might not be so accommodating...Iran, remember Flame, Stuxnet and Duqu!

What do all you people not understand about international airspace. 200 miles from our coast is international airspace. 15 miles from Iran is international airspace. So stop referring to flying planes 15 miles from New York as the same thing.

200 miles for the United States is international air space? I think not, it's 15 miles just like it is from Iran. If Iran wanted to they could fly 15 miles of the U.S. coast and there would be nothing the United States could do.

"The Obama administration did not disclose the incident before the presidential election..."
But CNN does not question the political motivations of the Obama admin's constant lies and corruption.
CNN...complicit in the Obama propaganda machine.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents yelled at you? You'd throw a temper tantrum, and they'd tack on another week of being grounded. Wanna make it two? Ok, two! Keep it up and you'll be grounded until you're married!

But no, you just gotta keep getting in the last word, even knowing you would be punished all that much more for a completely pointless provocation.

Land of the Free. Home of the Brave. Mess with us and we will destroy your entire family. That is the mindset that made us the greatest nation on Earth. Until we get back to that mindset, we continue to struggle as a nation.

My son keeps playing these army video games. He gets annoyed when I tell him that they are designed to teach him all he needs to know before they bring back the draft. This way he knows the equipment and tactics. The only problem is, in real life, you don't "respawn" after you are shot.

I agree, the U.S would never allow Iran to fly anywhere close to NYC.. So why is it okay for us to do this??

November 8, 2012 at 8:53 pm |

Mike

Yes, keep apologizing for the gay hanging, terrorist supplying, femail protester shooting, sabre rattling, ied-that-blows-the-limbs-and-genitals-off-our-troops-supplying, patriarchal religious thug run country that you seem to have more sympathy and allegiance for than Mitt Romney and his campaign.

You guys don't know what evil is. You rush to defend it just to cover the a$$ for this administration.

No.............if Iranian drones were flying 12 miles off our cost we'd SHOOT THEM DOWN! Why do you liberals pray for a weaker U.S.? We have been a LIBERATOR in the world, not an OPPRESSOR. If you don't like it here, go somewhere else!

Every wonder what our wonderful Obama government is not telling the American people???? There is no way I will EVER trust our government as long as Obama is president and CinC. All the numbers coming out of Washington DC are cooked, fixed. The American people really ate some crap when they believed Obama could get this nation strong economically again. I have lost all my respect for the people who voted for him and the ones I know that did, stay away from me and my home. I do not want to ever see you again. You have helped ruin our nation.

at libertysville -You sir are an idiot. Cooked and fake numbers? I think you listen to Karl Rove and the Murdoch empire a bit much. The job reports are verified by 3rd party and typically our government has to revise those numbers (up) to reflect the true job creation (try the ADP for 3rd party). You are bitter about Romney losing the race and need something and someone to blame it on. Fact is Americans overwhelming believe that defense needs to be cut, education spending needs to increase, agree that we need alternative energy, do NOT want to cut Medicare and Medicaid, etc. Everything contrary to what drug Romney was pushing. Obama inherited a disaster in 2008 (fact). It takes time to fix what is broken especially when you have John Boehner and the GOP REFUSING to work with the Obama Administration and the Democrats. And thank God the Affordable Healthcare act was passed. My wife (30 yrs old) has stage 4 breast cancer and you honestly think it is FAIR for her to be denied healthcare because of a pre-existing condition? Get a clue man.

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.